Having our website built and the developer is keen to use Expression Engine. We've been advised by many that WordPress is a better platform.
Anyone have any preferences?
It's a fairly simple website but the look is the most vital thing.
A good developer is more important than the platform in my opinion.
It also depends on who will maintain the site and what skills they have.
Ask yourself some questions-
How am I (the business) affected by the choice? Is the choice transparent to me?
I have hired/am hiring a developer (or designer) . Presumably he is skilled, and has a preference for one over the other. Will the product delivery be compromised, either in look and feel, or performance, if I take his recommendation?
Will the designers ability to deliver a suitable product be compromised if I go against his recommendations?
Do I have any tangible reasons to prefer the alternate platform?
EE and WP are both content admin systems are neither will affect the 'look' of it.
You can use demos of both online - suggest you try both if you are going to be maintaining it and see which you prefer, not the developer, who should be able to use both.
Of course the functionality of your site, if you have any, may also contribute to which is more suitable.
developers will generally recommend what they are comfortable with ie what they can deliver the best results which may not be the best for you long term.
Did you tender the work? Should give you a good idea
I'll do it for cheaper! haha
which is easiest to use Wordpress or Joomla from an updating it point of view
Have a look here http://www.cmsmatrix.org/ and try them here http://php.opensourcecms.com/
Personally prefer wordpress but it is only because I am familiar with it and like the amount of community support and extensions. Would welcome the chance to learn expression engine as heard good things about it.
If it does what you want it to do and it works then go with the developers recommendations.
Sure he doesn't tell you how to do your business 😉
Sorry to hijack would www.wordpress.org be easy to create a simple website like this http://www.asif-khan.com/#item5 on, as I don't really want to spend more than a weekend if possible.
thanks
Cheers all - but I have to say, I'm still none the wiser!
I'd go wordpress.
Depends, because after it has been built 'you' may want to tweek it or keep it updated and Wordpress seems the best for reviews and ease of use
Matt, can't offer any experience of Expression Engine, but I do use Wordpress for the [url= http://tabsmagic.co.uk ]wife's site[/url]. It's been pretty easy to build and maintain although i spend _far_ too much time geeking bike bits to really do it justice. plus, the day job is software development type stuff - you know how it is.
i tend to do anything too admin-y, but she can work it fine with very little training/help from me. that's a big win in my book - she's not the patient sort when it comes to tech stuff.... 😉
like others have said, it's important who will be maintaining thing in the long run. you should be able to get the same front end look regardless of how it's built. are there any specific requirements that would push towards one build tool or another? do you know if the developer is experienced with EE or wants a paid-for experiment? don't mean to be cynical or anything, I just know a few dev types that play with new toys for side projects.
anyway, drop me an email if you want to talk it over and i'll try to help where i can. all the best, matt
Drupal?
wordpress is better than drupal joomla and the crowd, fact... and more supported and updated more regular and easier to access from a user to novice point of view
If your designer uses it all the time ask for his reasons for doing so and if they sound persuasive / you trust him go with it. Just want to make sure that the justification is of primary benefit to YOU rather than him (<cynic> ie. he's not just re-skinning templates he has already and wants an easier project rather than having to build from the ground up in something new </cynic>). It shouldn't make any difference to the end-user / visitor experience but does matter to the person building the site and then the person adding / maintaining it.
Personally I'd go with wordpress too - just think it'd be easier to update / admin from a non-techy point of view. ie, I'd echo what Matt ^^ etc said.
(This is what I've been doing as a day-job for the last 12 years+ so I'm maybe a little cynical)
Thanks again all - this really is a tricky one.
These two reviews suggest EE...
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/03/wordpress-vs-expressionengine-apples-and-oranges/
http://designpepper.com/blog/post/expression-engine-vs-wordpress/
But of course they are written from a designers point of view.
Hmmm...
Mat: you deemed this guy fit enough to do the job when you hired him, why not continue with that trend and actually take his advice?
I use Modx, it's not well known and web people could argue till the cows come home whether one platform is better or not. But if you worked with me you'd get a better end product with [i]my[/i] platform of choice than if you tried to force me to use wordpress because of a couple of people you know had an opinion on it.